Vietnam's economic growth will ease to an estimated 5.1 per cent this year, below an official target and also slow from an annual expansion of 5.89 per cent in 2011, the government said on Monday.

The country's annual inflation is forecast at 7.5 per cent, while lending rates have eased and foreign currency reserves have risen to a level equivalent to 12 weeks of imports, the Planning and Investment Ministry said in a report.

Early this year the central bank tightened lending to help control inflation, making it difficult for domestic firms to access fresh funds. Lending only eased from the second half of the year when Hanoi projected a stabilizing inflation rate.